Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1489264
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 JANUARY 2023 9 INTERVIEW than just 'Qatar' included – who all speak Mal- tese, when delivering our two- to-three-minute interventions in the European Parliament. That is, of course, important: as for myself, I will always speak my own language… unless the circumstances genuinely make it impossible for me to do so. But the real reason we have all those translators, and interpret- ers, working at various levels within the European Union, is not just so that they can trans- late whatever I – and other Mal- tese MEPs – say in the EP; nor even to translate all the official documentation, and legislation, into Maltese. No, their job is also to translate all the e-mail correspondence. I myself, for instance, often re- ceive emails in German, or Por- tuguese: which I obviously have to have translated for me; and then, I also have to reply to those emails in the same language. Likewise, when I recently sent an email to the assistant Gener- al-Secretary of the EP, I wrote it in Maltese; and the answer I re- ceived was in Maltese, too. This is, after all, what being an 'official EU language' actually means, in practical terms; and it's just as true for Maltese, as for French, English and German. So the infrastructure is all there, for Maltese to retain its official status. But unless we make an extra effort to actual- ly use it ourselves – especially in our communications within the European Civil Service – it would be pointless to claim that 'we are trying to safeguard the importance of Maltese, vis-à-vis other European languages'. Coming back to your earlier complaint about discrimina- tion in European appointments: what sort of reply did get from the Commission, regarding the Zemetis case? Well, the most recent update is that the European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly – whom I met, and corresponded with, about the issue – has started an inves- tigation into ALL the European Commission's recent appoint- ments (not just Zemetis) to its representation in Malta, to see what type of assessment proce- dures were used. Having said this, the Latvian case is a very 'hot' one, so to speak. Because Zemetis himself is a person considered to be very close to Valdis Dombrovskis: the Commission Vice-President responsible for the EU's rep- resentations in member states. So the European Ombudsman's investigation will be looking closely into that appointment; along with all the others that were made. In a word: the case itself is still wide open… Onto other matters now: the recent Qatargate scandal has dealt a blow to the European Parliament's own credibility… in particular, when it comes to lobbying; and the apparent ability to 'buy influence', by simply bribing MEPs. In your own experience: how wide- spread do you think this prac- tice really is? Well, I can certainly give you plenty of other examples: in- cluding some from my own ex- perience. You might recall how, around a year ago, there was a story about how 'sparks flew' because I re- quested to speak at a session of the Budget Control Committee (of which I am not a member); and how there was a 'tit-for- tat' between myself, and the (EPP) committee chair, Monika Hohlmeier. I won't go into all the details again: suffice it to say that I was sent there as a representative of the Socialist group; and that my intention was to defend Malta's position, in the face of an entire- ly fabricated story about 'sys- tematic corruption in the use of EU funds' (which story was also allegedly linked to an unfinished investigation by Daphne Caru- ana Galizia, on her blog, before her assassination… even though there was no mention, anywhere on Daphne's blog, of the actual case in question.) Now: obviously, I am aware that not everything is 'plain sail- ing' in Malta; and that there were things that needed to be investi- gated, at the time. But I could not, and cannot accept that an EP Committee would be exploit- ed like that, for political purpos- es, to simply invent stories about Malta that were not true. But to cut a long story short: at the same session, a Czech MEP - Tomáš Zdechovský, of the EPP – had delivered an entire con- demnation of Malta: portraying our country as if it were riddled with corruption, at absolutely every level; and at one point, he came close to actually calling for Malta's expulsion from the EU, under Article 5. Meanwhile, by pure coinci- dence, just a couple of weeks ago I happened to walk past as the same Zdechovský was filming a testimonial video: in which I heard him urging all citizens of Malta and Gozo to 'vote for Da- vid Casa' in the 2024 MEP elec- tions. But I'm not at all sure if that video will ever be shown: be- cause two days after the Qatar- gate scandal broke out, a sep- arate investigation began into alleged bribes paid by Bahrain – a country which has a human rights record that is just as bad as (if not worse than) Qatar's. Well, it turns out that the same Tomáš Zdechovský – who had criticised Malta so much over corruption, and the 'rule of law' – had himself been travelling to and from Bahrain, for free, with- out ever informing the European Parliament; and without keeping records of his meetings, or pro- viding any information about these visits at all. And because he never provided any receipts: no one knows exactly who paid his hotel bills, or other expenses, either. And on top of everything else: Tomáš Zdechovský is also the co-author, on behalf of the EPP, of a European Parliamentary resolution about none other than… Bahrain. So as you can see: the 'Qatar- gate' scandal is already about more than just 'Qatar'. Not on- ly are there more countries in- volved; but what is beginning to emerge, is the picture of a wide- spread corrupt practice that was more or less 'systematic'… All the same, however: Qatar- gate did not reflect particularly well on the European Socialists did it? After all, most of the MEPS who have been arrested, or placed under investigation, have so far been members of the PES… Yes, that's true; and to be per- fectly blunt, it must also be stated that the entire Qatargate scandal actually began with an investigation into the activities of individual Socialist MEPs – all of whom have been expelled from the PES, in the meantime - even if it is now extending to involve other political groupings also. This is, in fact, my own inter- nal message to other members of the PES: clearly, we need to rethink, and reform, the way we operate as a group. Because unfortunately, we are not talk- ing only about 'one rotten ap- ple' here. What we are looking at amounts to an entire web of corruption, that threatens the entire 'apple-basket'... At the same time, however: even if the scandal were actual- ly limited only to Socialist MEPs – or if, for example, the only one involved was [former EP vice-president] Eva Kaili herself; and no one else – there would still be a lot of questions to an- swer, for other political group- ings: including the EPP. For example: among the many unanswered questions sur- rounding Eva Kaili, is the fact that she had openly defied the position of her own PES group, by voting in favour of the ap- pointment of [EPP candidate] Alessandro Chiocchetti as EP Secretary-General. As you are no doubt already aware: Chioc- chetti was also Roberta Metso- la's private secretary; and he is now under scrutiny over his own visits to Qatar… And while the media focus has subsided a little, in recent weeks: something tells me that a lot more will be coming out, re- garding this aspect of the scan- dal, as the investigations pro- gress. Even before Qatargate, there had been rumours (as well as accusations by Transparency International) of a 'backroom deal', between Eva Kaili and the EPP, to support Chiocchetti's appointment, in exchange for a high-ranking job for Kaili's own husband… So while I fully agree that the European Socialists have some soul-searching to do, in the wake of Qatargate: the EPP has a lot of serious questions to answer, too.